Excavating apparatus.



Niren STATES Frlcn.

AvArmar `RAYMOND, OF COLLINSVILLE, CALIFORNIA.

EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 716,246, dated December 16, 1902.

Application filed March 24, 1902. Serial No. 99,734. (No model.)

` To all whom. it mag/concern- Be it known that I, ALBERT KLATT, a citizen of the Unitedy States,'residing at Collinsville, county of Solano, and State of California, have invented certain new and i useful Improvements in Excavating Apparatus; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specication.

My invention relates to certain improvements 1n dredging or excavating machinery,

and especially to a novel form of buckets therefor.

My `improvements consist in a bucket of quadrangular` form in its horizontal sections, having one open side occupied by a curved vane or scoop that closes and opens the bottom and one side of the bucket, in means to operate this scoop, and also consists in other features of a constructive and operative nature that will be explained by the aid of the drawings herewith and forming a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide apparatus for excavating ditches in marshy or alluvial lands for drainage or other purposes, such ditches being of rectangular section with vertical walls, occupying a minimum space laterally to avoid waste of land; also, to provide apparatus of light weight, that can be supported on a narrow pontoon or other support. To this end I construct devices as shown in the drawings.

Figure I is a side view, partially in section, of one of my improved excavating-buckets; Fig. II, a front elevationof the same; Fig. III, a plan View of Figs. I and II, and Fig. IV a diagram indicating the manner of operating. yThe bucket is made with xed sides 1, 2, and 3, consisting of metal plates beveled at their bottom edges 4, so as to cut down into the earth 5. At the other or open side is a pivoted scoop 6 of curved form, that when closed, as shown in` Fig. I, forms the fourth side of the bucket. This scoop 6 is'` also provided with a cutting edge 11, that will sever peat or grass-roots as it closes.' This curved tothe topof the scoop 6, as shown in Fig. II, and provided at its ends with the rings 10 and 12 to receive operating ropes or chains 14 and 15, as shown in Fig. IV. 5

The vertical stability of thebucket is attained by the usual guiding-spars 16 and 17, that slide through sleeves 18 at the top of the derrick 19, as shown in Fig. IV. 20 and 21 are braces for the spars 16 and 17. 22 is a 6o stay for the derrick 19; 23, a common winding-Winch with two drums, and 24. a movable platform on which the operating apparatus is supported.

Referring now to the manner ofoperating, and especially to the diagram Fig. IV, the bucket, having been dropped or lowered by means of the rope 15, cuts its way down into the soft earth until filled, the rope 15 being slack and the curved scoop 6 in the position 7o shown. The rope 14. is then drawn by the winch 23, and the curved lever turning about the pivot 7 forces the scoop into the position shown in Fig. I and beneath the spoil 25 in the bucket, closing the open side of the latter. The rope 14 is by this same action drawn central over the bucket, and raises the same with its contents, which can then be swung to the bank or other place of deposit. When the bucket is ready to be discharged, the rope 8o 15 is hauled taut by the winch 23 and the weight of the bucket transferred to this rope, which, being attached to the ring 12, turns and opens the scoop 6, permitting the load 25 to fall out, and the bucket without further change is swung to the position to be dropped or lowered for another load, as in Fig. IV.

In this manner it is practicable to cut a ditch only as wide as the bucket or any multiple of its width as may be required. The frame 9o 24 can rest'on wheels, skids, or on a pontoon fioated in the water 26, and the winch 23 can be operated by any suitable motive power.

The essential features of the operation are the displacement of the spoilin approximately square cubic sections, severed usually on two sides only by edges that will cut through peat, grass-roots, or, other growths found in swamp lands, and that the section of the ditch being quadrangular occupies the smallest possible roo width for its size or capacity.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In excavating apparatus, a bucket open at the bottom and one side, a pivoted arm near the top, a curved scoop mounted on said arm, adapted to close the bottom and open side, a lifting means secured to the scoop for opening the same, and a closing means, consisting of a lever-arm whose fulcrum is the pivot of the pivoted arm, and Whose outer extremity is on the opposite side of said pivot from the scoop, substantially as specified.

2. In excavating apparatus, a bucket open at the bottom and one side, a curved scoop pivoted near the top at the center, to close said bottom and open side, and iiexible operative means, one connected directly to the scoop, and the other connected by means of a lever-arm on the scoop, at a point on the opposite side of the pivot from the scoop, substantially as specified.

3. In excavating apparatus, a rectangular bucket open at the bottom and at one side, a l

curved and pivoted scoop mounted at or near the top of the bucket and adapted to swing and close the bottom and one side thereof, a curved lever to operate this scoop extending across the top of the bucket to receive a lifting rope or chain by which the bucket is closed and lifted substantially as speciied.

4. In excavating apparatus, a spoil-bucket square in form, open at 'the bottom and one side, a pivoted scoop of curved form so mounted as to close the bottom and open side of the bucket, and attachments for ropes or chains at points on opposite sides of the axis of this pivoted scoop to produce opening and clos.- ing movements of the same, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof' I have signed my name to this specification in the presence o two subscribing Witnesses.

ALBERT KLATT.

Witnesses:

J. P. ABBOTT, PEVERLY RAYMOND. 

